Johnny Owen was a contestant in the Pub Olympics in 1972 and was on The Flying Horse's team in the beer drinking contest against the Rovers Return's Stan Ogden. Len Fairclough and Ray Langton had bet against Stan and, to sabotage his efforts, his plied him with drink the night before to the point where he was suffering alcoholic poisoning. Hilda Ogden, with her inherent belief in her man, bet on Stan and dragged him to the pub where he found himself opposite the loud-mouthed Johnny, or the "man-mountain" as Hilda called him. Stan struggled and looked aghast as Johnny sank pint-for-pint with him but his years of careful training and natural expertise came to the fore and finally Johnny collapsed over the bar. As the other matches in the contest had so far resulted in a draw, the Rovers won